Fort Leonard Wood evaluated a new Contamination Indicator Decontamination Assurance System, or CIDAS, that its developers say will change Army doctrine and save lives and resources.
"CIDAS has the ability to indicate contamination within five minutes and additionally provide a visual footprint on exactly where the contamination is located," said Avery Woods, Capability Development and Integration Directorate training specialist/ developer.
"It will change Army doctrine/tactics, techniques and procedures for all phases of decontamination and will save lives, resources and time by introducing a new methodology of decontaminating only what needs to be decontaminated," Woods added.
Soldiers from CDID displayed the chemical detection system during a warfighter demonstration Aug. 27 at the Lt. Terry Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Responder Training Facility.
This event allowed CDID the opportunity to assess the prototype and provide feedback to the designers.
The CIDAS contains two chemicals that when combined at the nozzle, comes out orange in color. The mixture changes to red in the presence of a contaminant.
This color change takes approximately five minutes compared to the 45 minutes it takes with solutions currently in use, saving time, money and ultimately lives.
Woods added that the new system will allow for pinpoint decontamination as opposed to having to complete the whole-item process each time.
"Current doctrine for Detailed Equipment Decontamination employs a five-step process that, for a single vehicle, requires 400 gallons of water and 65 minutes to complete thorough decontamination operations," Woods said.
The Soldiers evaluated the small-scale applicator, which is in a backpack design with a handheld applicator to be used for immediate decontamination. There is also a mid-scale applicator and a large-scale applicator.
The mid-scale applicator was designed for contamination on vehicles, personnel, equipment and evidence; this is scheduled for distribution to U.S. Army Special Operations Command teams.
Large-scale CIDAS systems will be issued to CBRN platoons, reconnaissance and surveillance teams in support of decontamination operations and technical decontamination operations.
Staff Sgt. Terry Cabrera, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command training developer, was one of the Soldiers participating in the evaluation process.
He said the backpack design is similar to that of the Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment, or MOLLE design. He added that it had a comfortable fit.
"Soldiers will benefit from this spray-on method," Cabrera said. "It provides signs of point detection with a chemical substance as opposed to a general area like other legacy detectors. It is not only lightweight, but also configured as most load-bearing equipment."
Cabrera added that being mobile is a necessity on the battlefield.
Despite having a couple of suggestions for minor modifications, Cabrera said he can see himself and other Soldiers using the CIDAS equipment.
"Although this program/equipment is in its development stage, this is a very intuitive piece of equipment for point detection," Cabrera said.
According to Woods, Soldiers can expect to see the CIDAS being issued for use in 2019.
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